As a fresh-off-the-boat arrival, Ignaz Schwinn probably should have been a bit intimidated by this hectic scene, but if he was, he sure didn’t show any signs of it. For all its associations with the 1950s and ‘60s, though, Schwinn’s mid-century heyday was really just an easy downhill glide after five decades of determined, non-stop pedaling. Crew-cutted Eisenhower kiddos had Schwinns on their Christmas lists because Schwinn was already the name their parents knew and respected. The brand was deeply embedded into the culture from the dawning of the 20th century onward.
Price points vary widely, from under $100 for a Schwinn kids’ bike at a big-box retailer to $12,500 for a Trek road bike with a carbon frame, electronic shifting and disc brakes at a specialty bike shop. Ecommerce sales are increasing among Amazon, numerous online-only bike stores and mass retailers, as well as direct-to-consumer online sales by a growing number of brands. The U.S. bicycle industry — which reported total retail sales of $3.3 billion in 2019, up 1% from the previous year, according to NPD — is a mixed bag. There also are dozens of small-scale builders of customized, handmade bikes, including Mosaic, Dean, Co-Motion and Waterford/Gunnar, (owned by Richard Schwinn, Ignaz’s great grandson,) that sell models for upwards of $20,000.
In 1971, Taiwanese eel farmerKing Liuhad his livelihood wiped out in a typhoon. Rather than rebuild, he decided to take an entirely new tack and venture into the world of bicycle manufacturing. Bicycle manufacturing in America has declined significantly in the past several decades. But Detroit Bikes is eager to bring at least a part of the industry back to domestic soil, where demand for all manner of bikes and other outdoor equipment is booming amid pandemic restrictions. But they’re all cranking back to life in the town that taught America how to build things. AllPosters.com is the go-to destination for wall art and other fun visual products that express personal interests, life-long passions and of-the-moment obsessions.
Although the market was becoming hostile to investors, Schwinn was flourishing thanks to its motorcycle division. In fact, the company was doing so great that in 1928 it was placed third after Harley-Davidson and Indian. By 1905, the annual sales of bikes had decreased to only 25% of the figures reached in 1900. Unfortunately, the market got saturated and as a result, the short-lived bicycle boom came to an abrupt end. Most models of Schwinn bikes have years of images and information via old catalogs, advertisements and Schwinn documentation. This page lists Schwinn bicycles models and links to their details.
You can go for hybrid bikes that can be used on roads and on tough terrains. The other models include cruisers, folding and specialty bicycles. If you are looking to upgrade your kiddo’s bike or buying them their first, we have options here too. These bikes come in all color and design so that you pick the one they love the most. Once you decide which bike to go for there are features like saddles, frame, pedals, handlebar, gears, suspensions and others that will make it easier for you to zero in on your bicycle.
The new company produced a series of well-regarded mountain bikes bearing the Schwinn name, called the Homegrown series. The company’s next answer to requests for a Schwinn mountain bike was the King Sting and the Sidewinder, inexpensive BMX-derived bicycles fabricated from existing electro-forged frame designs, and using off-the-shelf BMX parts. Schwinn never played it conservative with their ad budget, but their best sales agents were always their customers. Popular mid-century models like the Streamline Aerocycle, the AutoCycle, the Continental, Panther, Jaguar, Hornet, Black Phantom, and Sting-Ray all generated word-of-mouth buzz at bike shops, playgrounds, offices, etc. The Chicago factory was basically producing the bicycle equivalent of the Mustangs and T-Birds coming out of Detroit, and the biggest challenge was just keeping up with demand.
Unlike Schwinn, many of these brands were perennial participants in professional bicycle racing, and their production road bicycles at least possessed the cachet and visual lineage of their racing heritage, if not always their componentry. One example was Peugeot, which won several Tour de France victories using race bikes with frames occasionally constructed by small race-oriented framebuilders such as Masi, suitably repainted in Team Peugeot colors. In reality, mass-market French mongoose bicycles manufacturers such as Peugeot were not infrequently criticized for material and assembly quality — as well as stagnant technology — in their low- and mid-level product lines. Nevertheless, Peugeot proudly advertised its victorious racing heritage at every opportunity. While not as prominent at the winner’s podium, Japanese brands such as Fuji and Panasonic offered consistently high quality, reasonable prices, and state-of-the-art-derailleur, crankset, and gearing design.
The 1960 Varsity was introduced as an 8-speed bike, but in mid-1961 was upgraded to 10 speeds. Other road bikes were introduced by Schwinn in the early and mid 1960s, such as the Superior, Sierra, and Super Continental, but these were only produced for a few years. The Varsity and Continental sold in large numbers through the 1960s and early 1970s, becoming Scwhinn’s leading models. The wheel rims were likewise robust, chromed, stamped steel with a unique profile designed to hold the tire bead securely, even if pressure were low or lost.
Nevertheless, Schwinn’s share of the market was increasing, and would reach in excess of 1 million bicycles per year by the end of the decade. Schwinn was soon sponsoring a bicycle racing team headed by Emil Wastyn, who designed the team bikes, and the company competed in six-day racing across the United States with riders such as Jerry Rodman and Russell Allen. In 1938, Frank W. Schwinn officially introduced the Paramount series. Developed from experiences gained in racing, Schwinn established Paramount as their answer to high-end, professional competition bicycles.